Drive mechanism for a rubber mill or similar machine



June 10, 1958. 3 w. c. WHITTUM 2,837,763

DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL OR SIMILAR MACHINE Filed July 8, 19544 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVVENTOR mM W em 6M ATTORNEY June 10, 1958 w. cWHITTUM 2,337,763

DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL OR SIMILAR MACHINE Filed July 8, 19544 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VENTOR W Q Wm BYg h ATTORNEY June 10, 1958 w. c.WHITTUM DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL 0R SIMILAR MACHINE 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 8, 1954 1N VENTOR M 6 m h ATTORNEY.

QllHiI 5 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 kl l '1. v HUME H km N M ww I I N VENTOR WW (1M4 222 June 10, 1958 w. c. WHITTUM DRIVE MECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL ORSIMILAR MACHINE Filed July 8, 1954 HHI BY 5 E Z ATTORNEYS DRIVEMECHANISM FOR A RUBBER MILL on SIMILAR MACHINE Warren C. Whittum,Ansonia, Conn., assiguor to Farrel- Birmingham Company, Incorporated,Ansonia, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application July 8, 1954,Serial No. 441365 9 Claims. c1. 18-2) This invention relates to a drivemechanism for a rubber mill or similar machine and more particularly toa unitary and compact drive mechanism which may be employed with arubber mill, and which may be mounted in close coupled relation with themill so as to occupy relatively little floor space.

As illustrated in the drawing, the drive is applied to a two-roll rubbermill, the rolls being mounted side by side or in a horizontal plane. Itwill be understood, however, that the drive is not restricted to thisparticular type of mill.

In mills of this character, it is common practice to mount a large drivegear or bull gear upon one of the rolls, this gear being driven throughsuitable reduction gearing from a motor or other source of power. Uponthe side of the mill opposite that upon which the bull gear is disposed,the rolls are provided with intermeshing pinions so that the second rollwill be driven from the first, upon which the bull gear is mounted andthe rolls will, of course, be driven in opposite directions.

The bull gear is driven by a pinion mounted upon a separate gear reducerusually having an outboard bearing attached to one of the end frames ofthe mill, and this gear-reducing mechanism is driven by a motor usuallythrough a flexible coupling.

In such an arrangement, the location of the bull gear with respect tothepinion will gradually change due to the wear of the main bearings,particularly in case of poor maintenance attention. This results in poorcontactbetween the gear teeth which in turn causes rapid wear and noisyoperation. The same trouble may also be caused by faulty alignment andinstallation and by gradual settling of the foundation.

In the present construction, the large driven gear or bull gear receivedupon the projecting end of one of the roll necks is one of a pluralityof speed-reducing gears mounted in a gear housing adjacent the millstand, so

that all of the gearing, including the speed-reducing gearing, iscontained in, and supported by, this housing. Moreover, the motor isalso supported by the housing and on the same side thereof as'the millitself so that a considerable economy in required floor space isachieved.

In addition, the present arrangement avoids the potential misalignmentreferred to above, as well as gear wear and gear noise through havingall ofthe gearing permanently mounted in one gear-reduction case so-thatthe original alignment and relationship of the parts of the drive areobtained throughout the life of the gears and bearings. I

The motor casing may be mounted upon the gear case by the provision ofappropriate flanges on the two members so that these flanges may bebolted together, the

motor casing being supported from the case for the reduction gearing.

In addition, the gear case is split upon a horizontal plane which passesthroughthe shafts of the gears so thatthe mechanism maybe readilyassembled. T I

'One object of the invention is to provide a compact and close coupledgear drive for a'rubber mill, or like mechanism, wherein the drive forthe ,driven roll of the mill comprises a plurality of speed-reducinggears mounted in a case adjacent the mill, the gearing being driven froma motor disposed upon the same side of the casing as the mill itself.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a drive mechanismfor a rubber mill, or like device, wherein a motor is mounted upon agear case disposed adjacent the mill and the motor shaft connected withone of the mill rolls by a system of reducing gearing compactly mountedwithin the case so that the drive occupies a relatively small amount offloor space.

Other objects of the invention and other advantages flowing from thenovel structure and arrangement of parts will appear as the disclosureproceeds.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a rubber mill having my improved drivemechanism applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the gear case of the drivemechanism, the motor and a portion of the mill being shown in fulllines;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a detailed sectional view on a reduced scale on line 4-4 ofFig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is an end elevational view of a mill and gear casing.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, I have'sho'wn inplan view on Fig. 1 of my drawings a rubber mill of more orless'co'nventional type comprising a base 10, side frames 11 and 12 anda pair of cooperating rolls 13 and 14, these rolls being mounted insuitable bearings and held in the frames by end caps 15 and 16. It willbe understood that, as usual, the rolls are mounted in a horizontalplane and suitable adjusting screws 17 and 18 are providedin the endframes to adjust the bite between them.

At one end, the lefthand end, as shown in Fig. 1, connecting gears orpinions the roll necks, these pinions' being enclosed within a housing21. The roll 13 is driven from :a suitable source of power and as willbe seen from Fig. 2 this roll is provided with an extended neck 22 oftapered form driven from a large bull gear 23 which is connected to theroll neck in a manner to be hereinafter described.

The gear 23 is, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, mounted in a gear casewhich also houses the reduction gearing employed between this large gearand the driving motor. This gear case is a split case comprisingthe-lower part 24 and the upper part 25, the two parts being providedwith flanges 26 and 27 through which bolts may be passed to hold theparts in assembled position. As will be hereinafter described, the upperand lower parts 24 and of the gear case meet in the plane of the centerline of the. shafts uponwhich the reduction gears are mounted so thatthe parts may be readily assembled.

As shown more especially in Fig. 2, the-bull gear 23 is secured by a key28 to a sleeve-or hollow hub member 29.which in turn is secured by a key30 to the taperedroll neck 22 so that the gear is nonrotatably securedto the roll13. The sleeve is rotatably mountportion of p the ed injournals In the gear, case by bearings31 and32 so that the gear 23 willbe' suitably supported by the case itself.

The gear 23 is driven from apinion 34 mounted upon a shaft 35, whichshaft is mounted in bearings 36 and 37, these bearings being adjacentthe end of-the shaft and mounted in the side walls of the lower portion24 lower ortIon 24 of the 'g'earcase so as to be supported thereby. Itmay here benoted'th'at the axes of the Patented June 10, 1958 I19 and 20are provided upon t a 7. roll neck 22 and of the shafts and are alllocated in the same horizontal plane so as to lie at the divisionbetween the upper and lower portions of the gear case.

Also mounted upon the shaft 40 between the walls of the gear case is agear 43, this gear being in mesh with the teeth of a pinion 44 (Figs. 3and 4) mounted upon the shaft 45 of an electric motor housed in themotor casing 46.

The lower portion 24 of the gear case is, as shown more particularly inFig. 4, provided with an opening 47 to receive a reduced portion 48 ofthe motor casing, the opening 47 being provided in a flange member 49secured in the inner 'wall of the case 24, and the motor casing isprovided with a radially projecting flange 50 which may be bolted to theflange 49 by thebolts 51.

With this construction, it will be seen that the motor is -secured tothe gear case and it will be seen that it is mounted upon the same sideof the gear case as the mill itself, so as torequire a minimum amount offloor space. Moreover, the motor shaft projects Within the gear case andthe driving pinion 44 is mounted upon this projecting end of the shaftso that the entire train of gearing extending from the motor shaft tothe driven roll 1'3 is contained within the case and closely coupled tothe mill itself.

it may also be noted that as the bearings for the shafts, upon which thegears are mounted, are disposed within a single horizontal plane, andthe gear case is split upon ing the bull gear 23 and the sleeve 29, thecase may be moved horizontally toward the mill so that the tapered end22 of the roll 13 will be receivedin the sleeve 29, thus securing thegear 23 nonrotatably to the roll neck 22. The outer bearing 32 of thegear 23 may be held in place by a cap 53 so that access may be had ifdesired to the bearings about the sleeve 29. A cap 54 is provided tohold the sleeve on the tapered roll neck 22.

The gear case may be supported upon a bracket 55 carried by the adjacentside frame, as shown in Fig. 5.

through the member 58 of the bracket 55 bears against a pressure pad 59on the bracket 56 and holds the gear case in place.

While I have shown and bodiment of my invention,

motor for driving said reducing gears, said gear case being split alonga horizontal plane, and said first-named gear and the reducing gearsbeing so mounted in the case that their axes lie in said plane.

3. A rubber mill or like device comprising a mill stand having a pair ofcooperating rolls, side frames in which said rolls are rotatablymounted, a gear case mounted adjacent one of said side frames, one ofsaid roils having a neck portion extending into said case, a gearrotatably mounted in bearings carried by the case and having a hollowhub member in which the roll neck portions so nonrotatably received, atrain of reducing gears rotatably supported in bearings carried by lastof which meshes with said first named having a shaft extending into thecase, and a pinion secured to said shaft having its teeth in mesh withthose of the first of said train of reducing gears.

4. A rubber mill or like device comprising a mill having a pair ofcooperating rolls, side frames in wh In said rolls are rotatablymounted, a gear case mounted adjacent one of said side frames, one ofsaid rolls having a neck portion extending into said case, a gearrotatably mounted in bearings carried by the case and having a hollowhub me ,iber in which the roll neck portion is nonrotatably received, atrain of reducing gears rotatably supported in bearings carried by saidcase, the last of which meshes with said first-named gear, a motorsupported by the ear casing and having its shaft extending into the gearcasing, and a pinion se cured to the shaft and drivingly connected tosaid getr train to drive the latter.

5. A rubber mill or like device comprising a mill stand having a pair ofcooperating rolls, side frame in which said rolls are rotatably mounted,a ew case mounted adjacent one of said side frames, one of said rollshaving a neck portion extending into said case, a gear rotatably mountedin bearings carried by the case and having a hollow hub member in whichthe roll neck portion is nonrotatably received, a train of reducinggears rotatably supported in bearings carried by said case, the last ofwhich meshes with said first-named gear, a motor having a flanged casingsecured to a side wall of the gear casing and having a shaft extendinginto the gear casing, and a pinion on the extended end of said shaftwithin the casing and drivingly connected to said gear train.

6. A rubber mill or like device as set forth in claim 1 wherein themotor comprises a flanged casing secured to and supported by the sidewall of said gear casing.

7. A rubber mill or like device comprising a mill stand having a pair ofcooperating rolls, side frames in which said rolls are rotatablymounted, a gear case mounted adjacent one of said side frames, hollowhub member rotatably mounted in bearings carried by said case, a drivingbull gear nonrotatably secured to said hnb her, one of said rolls havinga neck portion extending within the gear case into said hub member andnonrotatlably secured to the latter, gearing in said case drivinglysecured to said bull is secured to the adjacent end frame for supportthereby.

9. Mechanism as in claim 7 wherein a motor is secured to said gear casefor support thereby and the shaft of said motor is drivingly connectedto said gearing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS- U. 5.DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PATENT OFFICE l CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PatentNo 2,837,763 warren 3 w itt June 10, 1958 It is hereby certified thaterror appears .in the printed specification of the above numbered patentrequiring correctien and that the said Lettera Patent should read ascorrected below.

Column 4, line 8,, for "portions so" read portion is Signed and sealedthis 5th day of August 1958,

(SEAL).

Attest:

KARL AXLINE ROBERT c. WATSON Attesting Officer Comiseioner of Patents

